On March 22nd, cunning YouTuber James Channel converted a slightly-defaced copy of NES Open Tournament Golf into a fully-functioning NES console with the ability to play other NES cartridges. Using a combination of determination, ingenuity, a few brute-force tools and a mini circular saw, James successfully dismantled the original cartridge and a knockoff compact NES console and their internals to create the fusion.
For those unfamiliar with the classic Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges of old, those bulky things were mostly empty plastic in the same way most 2.5-inch SSD casings are. The actual components are compact, but aesthetics and future-proofing concerns gave us the final cartridge design. Because of this, there was actually plenty of space inside the Open Tournament cart to work with.
Most mini/handheld DIY console projects demonstrate that most of an original console's motherboard can probably be chopped off for your project, and this is no exception. Roughly two-thirds of this knockoff NES' internals are roughly broken-and-screwdriver-pried away from the central cartridge slot and SoC less than a minute into the full video, to give you an idea of how some of these parts didn't need to be re-used.
The video detailing the build process shows even more remarkably violent steps (at one point, while cutting leads on the controller ports causes the solder on the PCB to shoot to the ceiling.), but the final project is remarkably effective for what it is. Besides the NES cartridge console having the ability to play itself (with an extension cable) or other games, it also still functions when slotted into a proper NES console when all is said and done.
Besides the original NES hardware being easily crammable onto a single chip by the clone unit, James also used Micro USB for power and a 3.5 mm cable for A/V output to keep the footprint low. The original controller ports were also maintained after stripping them off of their original board, and their setup with wiring actually takes more space inside the cartridge than the rest of the NES does. Keeping the original ports also makes controller support pretty much perfect.
Also, while the footage in the video seems to be flickering, that is likely because of James' camera settings, as noted in the edit. When recorded, CRT TVs and monitors can look quite a bit different depending on shutter speed, including severe tearing or flickering that is not present in the real image.
